The Collinsport Chronicles: The Collinsport Sting
by Maryland Rose
Summary: One would think that the inhabitants of Collinsport would be inured by now to all kind of horrors, but a new vampire moves in town, and in his wake brings terrors that make the most stalwart tremble...
1. Chapter 1

This follows the set-up from the previous installment (Collinwood 1979). Any questions, read the previous ones. If you still have questions, send me a private message and I'll answer the questions as best I can.. If you are not in the mood to recapiitulate, begin at Chapter 2, and get back here... COLLINSPORT STING

Chapter 1

Frank Torrance looked forward to a quiet evening. Too many parties were not doing him much good. He took off his shoes and stretched on the sofa. He looked through his mail. Most of the time he either got nothing, or he got bills. But tonight he had drawn the jackpot.

One was written on the official stationery of Congresswoman Evans, which basically thanked him for the job he had done a while ago in Maine. Between the lines, she was also grateful for taking care of her ex-campaign manager.

The next letter came from the ex-campaign manager himself. Just started on the job Admiring the office he had gotten. Inviting him to visit any time he felt like it. Then some personal stuff. He had broken off with his girlfriend and was keeping company with a young widow who insisted she did not want anything permanent.

Good for him. A new job and an uncomplicated girlfriend was just what he needed.

Another letter from the ditched girlfriend. A short, very correct note apologizing for all the nasty comments she had made back in Maine. He had been right about her, but she didn't want to admit it.

Maybe he should try to see her again. After all, she was his type. But there was an unpleasant side to her, as her ex-boyfriend could tell. And the place was too weird for his tastes, anyway...

He got up to answer the doorbell. In his doorstep stood Megan Todd, looking as sharp and sassy as he had the last time he had seen her. He tried to slam the door, but her hand shot up and kept it open.

"Are you going to let me in, or do you want to see if I grow roots on the spot?

"What...what you want?" he managed to stammer.

"Apologize first. Talk business second. It is rather chilly in the doorstep. Really, I can come in even without your invitation, but I thought I would be polite."

She sounded so reasonable that he opened the door for her, instead of slamming it on her noses as he wanted..

"Look stay out of my life, and I'll stay out of yours."

"I could not stay in business if I stayed out of people's lives."

"Which business? The legit one or the other?"

"Both. In any case, as soon as the legit business starts paying for itself I will go respectable." she lighted a cigarette and took a drag of it.

"Would you mind putting that think out?"

"Barnabas talked to you about the evils of smoking, I figure."

"He's right. What about that apology you promised me?

"I am sorry I put you through a bad time. Believe me, it was nothing personal."

"Of course not. You just needed money. How much you think you'll make for apologizing to me?"

"I just want to mend my relationship with you."

"Because the goodwill of a Washington bureaucrat is worth something, isn't it?"

Megan shrugged "It is difficult to keep a tender heart when you don't know when the next month's rent is coming from. I've had to take care of myself without help from anybody. So I am tough, I am nasty, and I'll do anything for a quarter. I did not choose to be what I am, but I made the best of it. I would rather not have my husband killed. I would not, if I could have chosen it, have become what I am from someone with as little practical sense as Barnabas. When he had his accident with me, instead of using his head and giving me pointers, he just panicked and tried to have me killed, and swept under the rug." she smiled there "well, it is all in the past now. But if you think that I am not a pleasant person, think that I may have my reasons for it."

"You may have your point" Frank said grudgingly "even so, could you put out that cigarette?"

"Since you ask politely, yes." she extinguished it. "By the way, Barnabas if very happy with his new job."

"Just got a letter from him."

"I gave him the papers for that. You have no idea how many computers I had to tamper with. Or at least their programmers. I made them forget all about me. I could have done the same to you. I could have convinced you that the report was the truth."

"But you didn't, why?"

"Because I did not want Carolyn to get away with it."

"You didn't?"

"Her husband killed Philip. And she is a bitch . It just seemed to be an excellent opportunity to get Barnabas what he needed. After all, you were so grateful that you moved Heaven and Earth for him. You did the work, and Carolyn paid me for it. A real neat deal."

Frank let out a low whistle "You planned this from the beginning?"

'Yes."

"Does he know about it?"

"Of course not. I would not let him play in one of my hustles. He cannot hustle for green apples."

"You are a peculiar woman." his grin was wide now "I like you, even if you put me through a real bad time."

"It wasn't that pleasant, I agree. But you can console yourself thinking that Carolyn got the same treatment from Barnabas, and for her there wasn't a happy ending. She just has a to obey the law."

"Your apology is fully accepted. Even if I still have nightmares..."

"They will go away. About the business..."

"What of it?"

"It's about Angelique."

"I know her story."

"It is a long and complicated one, all right. She finally broke up with him."

"I might have had something to do with it."

"She doesn't drink anymore. They were a most mismatched couple, anyway. If she hadn't been so stubborn she would have seen it long ago. But she wanted him, and that was it. She tried everything to get her claws on him. And when she got him, she found out she was stuck with a moral uplift commando.

"I know some of the things she did to get him."

"Yes." Megan shrugged "I suspect thetas when she first met him, he might have been worth it. But after a while..."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you made a pass at her when you were in Collinsport."

"That was before I found out what she did to her boyfriends when she got mad at them."

"It happened only once, with Barnabas. And she's very sorry about it."

"Good for her."

"She needs somebody like you."

He groaned inwardly. This woman seemed to think that he was some kind of household object to be used for any purpose she wanted.

"Why me? " he managed to ask.

"Because you already met her. Poor thing. She has nobody now. She has stopped drinking, it's true, but sometimes I think it is because getting the stuff is too much trouble. I am worried about her."

"So I am the one to get her out of the slump". the irony of his words was lost in Megan.

"Exactly. She has to find that there are other fish in the sea besides Barnabas. I don't ask you much. Invite her to Washington, take her to the Opera, to a movie..."

"Take her to bed, too?"

"Why not? You find her attractive."

"With that kind of record behind her, I'd rather pass."

"Are you going to hold that mistake against her, forever? People change, you know. And she's done a lot of good, too. She's helped people who needed help. And now she's the one that needs help."

"I'd feel better if the help didn't include stud service." that wasn't a good argument and he knew it. But that was the best he could come with.

"Are you going to play the blushing virgin? The role does not agree with you. I don't think it would be too painful for you."

Frank looked down and muttered something that Megan did not catch.

"What is it?"

"She scares me." It boiled down to it. He wanted her, but the kind of people she was involved with... and her last boyfriend...

"I understand. Two months ago you did not believe people like me or Barnabas existed. And now. you got him a job.."

"But I did not take him to bed." Frank attempted some levity. "And if he had made a pass at me I'd have freaked out."

"If you tried a little harder."

"Why not just make me do it, like the last time?"

"I'd rather not."

"Why not?"

"I have my reasons. the main one is that I am too good a friend of Angelique to give her a boyfriend at gunpoint.

"That's the only way you'll get me."

"I'm not so sure. You want it yourself. You'll say yes on your own."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Barnabas ran his hand over his desk. He had to keep touching it to convince himself that it was not a dream. he had a job now. His name was on some organization chart. He got paid every two weeks... He was no longer doomed to remain outside human society. He was even a taxpayer now.

"I've been lucky, very lucky" he said to himself. "After all the times I felt like giving up. They wouldn't let me. They cared enough for me. to make this possible. Now, if only Julia was here...

It has been his fault., he knew. He should have known that she was in love with him. That was at the bottom of those ugly fights they had. And she was gone now. Like Elizabeth. Like Professor Stokes.

"God! I miss them so much!"

A knock at the door brought him out of his reverie.

"Come in."

Philip Todd stepped in.

"You...you are dead..." he stammered.

"No more than you. I know who I look like. My name is Elmer Urey. But you are not the first who noticed the resemblance.

"Yes...Mr. Urrey" Barnabas was getting his bearings again "and why did you want to see me?"

"I have a problem..." Urrey searched for words. " think that it would be better if I explained the situation. The first person who noticed my resemblance to Philip Todd was the widow."

"You know Megan?" Barnabas eyed the newcomer warily How much did he know? What did he want with them?

"As I told you, I am no more dead than you are. And no less."

Barnabas looked at him intently. Did he mean what he thought he meant? Then the newcomer flashed a quick smile and he knew.

"I looked too much like the lady's late husband for my own good." Urrey made himself comfortable in a char. "Not that I am complaining. We played the con together, she and I, and she is good, real good, at it. I made more money with her help than ever before. But that's not my problem now."

"What is it? What do you want me to do? Barnabas thought grimly that he was responsible for him, too.

"Could you help fix this parking ticket?"

"I don't fix parking tickets" Barnabas rose "I don't believe in fixing parking tickets. It is encouraging corruption. We didn't get rid of Nixon so that we could start all over again."

"That's all?"

"And it does not solve the problem. This country needs an efficient mass transit system. If more people used the bus, there wouldn't be a shortage of parking spaces, and the streets would be less crowded, and..."

"OK, OK, you made your point." Elmer raised his hand "I'll pay the fine. But if you had to try to find a parking space in the middle of Manhattan, you too would double park."

"Is that why you came to see me? Because of a parking ticket?"

"No" he sighed "I wish it was that easy. To make it short, I am on the run."

"Who are you escaping from?'

"The Mob. The Cosa Nostra. The Mafia. Have you heard of them?"

"Yes." A shiver ran down Barnabas's spine... if only half the stories Megan had told him were true...

"Look I don't want to involve you. I thought that Megan would help me, but she's out of town" Urrey bit his knuckle and Barnabas could see that he was afraid.

"Why are they hunting you?"

"The latest scam I did. The money belonged to them, and I didn't find out until it was too late."

Barnabas looked at him. He was just a kid. And in a way it was his responsibility.

"I could keep you hidden at my place. But first I must know..."

"If I would be a danger to anyone? At least in the particular sense you mean?"

Barnabas nodded.

"I never had any accidents like you and Megan did. I got that part well under control. I represent no danger to anyone in that respect."

"This is the key to my place. Bring your things in. Later we'll see how we can make your car disappear."

* * *

"That is his story" Barnabas told Iris.

"And you took him in?"

"I had to."

"What you mean, you had to? When somebody takes the money and runs, what do you have to do with it? The guy figured you out as a soft touch, that's it.

"He needed help. I couldn't turn him away."

Iris rubbed Barnabas' arm "Do you realize how dangerous it is?"

"Yes. But I cannot go around doing what I think is right only when it is safe to do so."

Iris sighed. Could she make him understand how dangerous it was? She liked him for things like that. For being brave and willing to help. But if the Mob came here and started digging the town's secrets... They could blackmail Maggie with what they found. They could make Chris into a killer...

Barnabas could be resourceful, but there were still area where he was just a babe in the woods He had been cooped up in Collinsport too long, and didn't have a good idea of what went on in the world out there.

And he had decided to take on the Mob single-handedly.

"I guess you can't" she said finally. "you have to help him. But we got to do this right."

"What do you mean?"

"Make sure he does not go out for anything. Not for any reason."

"He had to go out to feed."

"We can keep him supplied where he is. I could take turns with Chris and Sabrina, Angelique, and probably Willie."

"Take turns? Too few people involved. It is dangerous."

"Not as dangerous as those guys. Barnabas, you have no idea how vicious they can be."

"I cannot let you risk it. I don't want another accident."

"Would you rather some hood drenched me in gasoline and start lighting matches to make me talk?

* * *

Willie answered the phone with a grunt "Is it you again? Have you any idea what time it is?"

"Could you come to my office? I have a problem that I want to discuss with you."

"Come here, I don't want to get dressed again.

'Is Louella there? - he'd rather not meet her. She didn't like him and she kept no secrets from Quentin.

"No. She's at a spiritual retreat."

"All right. I am going there with Iris."

"Willie is having problems with his wife" he said later, as he was driving the car. "It is because of me. I wish we could keep him out of this."

"We don't have much choice, do we?"

Willie looked haggard and uncoordinated. Barnabas hoped that it was only being waken in the middle of the night and nothing else. Willie already had a story of bad luck and needed more of it like a hole in the head.

"I am sorry to wake you up but this is important."

"I know, I know. I just had a bad day."

Willie led him to his living room. "What is it?" he asked.

"We got the Godfather after us. Iris cut in.

"The Godfather?

"The one that makes offers you can't refuse."

"The one... You mean those guys!" Willie screamed.

"I am afraid that it is true." Barnabas said grimly.

"But... but how? Wha... what...what ...hap...happened? Willie stammered just like in the old days.

"They are after Megan's old boyfriend, who is now hiding at my place.

"His name is Elmer Urrey. He looks a lot like Philip So you can imagine that Megan wasn't too careful with him."

"So on top, he's a vampire, too.; What did he do to make the Mob chase him?"

"Take their money and run" Iris said.

"And you are hiding him now.." Willie was trying to assess the magnitude of the disaster in his mind.

"Until Megan comes back."

"Why did you take him in?"

"I have a responsibility."

"You have a responsibility for us. And for your job. And for Maggie, too."

"I have to help him. He asked me to.."

"And I should know better than try to talk you out of it."

' We think we might have a better chance if he did not go out at all."

"He'd have to go out to feed, though."

"That's what we want to talk to you about" said Iris " If we took turns, Angelique, me, Sabrina, Chris, and you, we might keep him inside."

"Keep him inside.." he rubbed his neck "this is what you mean?"

"I don't like the idea myself" Barnabas hoped that Willie would refuse. "I could make sure that he left only as a bat."

"Anyone who did not have the sense to stay away from Mob money, won't have the sense to keep the shape of a bat outside. It seems I have little choice in the matter. One thing only."

"What is that?"

"Make sure the coffins are well hid. You have no idea how those guys can tear up a place when they are looking for something."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Between us, Iris, are you a bit sorry now about seducing Barnabas?"

"I like him."

Iris eyed Angelique warily. She had changed a lot since 1797, but there was still an unpredictable quality in her. There was just no telling what she could do if she were pushed too far.

"I am not angry with you" Angelique said "Our affair was on the rocks when you moved in. _I _was on the rocks, for that matter. Somehow I figured it was not fair that he was the only one with a drinking problem...

Iris bit her lips. She didn't know what to say. Did Angelique want her to comment on the fact that she had nearly ended up an alcoholic?"

"Well, it is over. Maybe we were just not made for each other. He looks a lot better now that he has you as a girlfriend. Maybe it's the no-strings-attached arrangement. It is best for everybody, including myself this way. But it still hurts. Isn't it funny? If I could move back with him, I'd start drinking again in no time. But I see you two, and my heart breaks."

"I am sorry if I hurt you."

"I hurt myself. Speaking of something else, remember Frank Torrance? He invited me to Washington. Maybe he and I could have the same arrangement you and Barnabas have."

"It seems like a good idea." Iris had to restrain herself from breathing a great sigh of relief when she heard those words.

"Of course, I cannot go to Washington now." We have this business to take care of."

"It is a problem all right."

"If you hadn't seduced Barnabas you wouldn't be mixed up in this."

"He would have gotten in the same kind of trouble without me. And this kind of trouble spills over."

"You think you have all in control?"

"No. We have a problem. David."

"The family pothead."

"David and Amy are due to visit Barnabas soon. Where are we going to put them?"

"If they go to Barnabas they'll meet Urrey, and will talk about him. Barnabas would be reluctant to bite them, and even if he did, all that marijuana does tend to make them unpredictable. We have to make them move to a motel without arousing suspicions. And hope that the motel does not kick them out for smoking dope."

"Another possibility we may not think about is Carolyn"

"Barnabas could make her take them in, but he cannot make her be civil to them."

"That leaves only Chris and Sabrina. After all, Amy is Chris's sister."

"That could be a problem. Chris wants desperately to be respectable... And with a pothead sister..."

"Even so, she's his sister."

"He's doing his best to forget it..." Angelique was thoughtful for some seconds, then broke into a smile. "There is one thing that he cannot wish away. We do have a handle on him."

* * *

"She's not my sister anymore." Chris shrugged politely.

"For once in you life, can you worry about what people think of you? "

"She said she wanted to live her own life. So I let her. She can do what she wants. All I ask, is that she keep out of my own life."

"She shouldn't jeopardize your future, eh, Chris?" Sabrina's voice cut through the air.

"If you want to put it that way. Look, I am cooperating. But this is too much. I won't have that tramp living under my roof just because it's inconvenient for Barnabas to have her and David at his place now."

"You wash your hands off the whole affair? Angelique's voice held a dangerous sweetness "Don't you ever care to find out if she does have the moon madness as you do?"

"She's female. She is immune."

"Always? I seem to recall about an aunt of yours..."

"It was the side effects of the medication she was taking. And she did not transform physically."

"And you think that Amy's drugs won't have the same effect?" Sabrina joined them "Don't you think you have a duty to explain it to her? Don't you think she deserves at least some warning?"

"It couldn't happen." Chris tried to sound sure.

"Apart from your own wishful thinking, what other basis do you have to say it?" Sabrina was merciless "Do you ever think of her as something else besides an embarrassment?"

Angelique sat back. Sabrina was doing a much better job of it than she ever could.

"She's a tramp!"

She was once a little girl that I loved. I do not like the way she handles her life. But I still love her. You don't' stop loving people because it would hurt your career to be seen with them. I want to help her. And she should come visit us."

"With David and the hash?

"What David and the hash."

"Not under my roof!

Go ahead, bury your head in the sand. If the moon madness comes upon her, and she kills somebody, it will be on your head.

The sooner those creeps of the commune get bumped off, the better."

"Why are so sure it is going to be one of them? And even if it is one of them, do you realize the position it puts you in? When the police slip the handcuffs on her. When her photo shows up in the newspapers. When you have reporters camped in your doorstep, what are you going to do? It is your responsibility. You should have told her long ago. You didn't. It is about time you caught up.

"She'll be coming here, Chris, and that's it" Sabrina said "And if you don't talk to Amy, I will."

"This whole thing is Barnabas' fault." grumbled Chris.

"His fault?"

"He had plenty of time to warn her. Why didn't he do it?"

"Because he was worrying about too many other things." Angelique checked herself. "Why am I justifying him to you? It's your sister, not his. Where is it written that if you have a problem the thing to do is dump it on Barnabas lap? I wonder that he has not told you yet to jump in the lake. Hasn't he enough aggravation of his own that he has to take care of yours?"

"He seemed only too glad to take it."

"And you gave it to him out of Christian charity. I guess. You wake every morning thinking. 'Poor Barnabas, he has nothing to be aggravated about. What new headache can I give him today?"

"If you are going to talk about giving him headaches, what about the big one you gave him?"

Angelique rose, livid "Drag out the past as much as you like, but after that, get on the phone and call Amy to have her visit you. Understood?"

* * *

"He agreed to do it?"

"What else could he do? At least there's one problem the less."

"Of course it would be much easier if we got rid of Urrey" Iris mused aloud.

"What do you mean?"

"If Urrey got killed we'd be rid of the problem for good. We could make it look like an accident..."

"There is one snag, though. The Mob still wants its money, and will come here looking for it. And you don't know how Megan will reach to your killing her boyfriend."

"That would be a problem.." Iris acknowledged.

"Take my advice and don't try your luck at murder."

"It wouldn't be murder. He's not a human being " Iris said, absentmindedly.

"Not a human being? If he's not a human being, what does that make Barnabas? And if he's not a human being either, what are you doing in bed with him?" Angelique's eyes flashed "Trying a new sexual perversion?"

Iris slapped her.

"That doesn't change the truth. You took him just for kicks. You don't care that he may be falling in love with you. You haven't harmed him yet, but if you do I'll make you sorry you were born." Angelique stared at her coldly "I am also one of those people who are not human by your definition."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"You have any idea when Megan will be back?"

"When she's finished her business, I guess. How could I know?" There was a slight edge in Barnabas' voice.

Urrey was pacing all over the place. He wasn't able to sit down for five minutes straight. He had gone over all the books in the library and had not read a single one. And he was chain smoking.

He was getting on Barnabas's nerves.

"I'm sorry " Urrey said "I don't want to sound ungrateful. It is just that I am dying to go to a crap game."

"You better stay inside."

"Don't I know it? But that does not make it easier..."

Barnabas left for his office and Urrey resumed his pacing. He hoped that Megan would return before he ran out of cigarettes. Somehow he couldn't get Barnabas to buy some for him. Was he supposed to go cold turkey because Barnabas had turned out be a health freak?

Damn it! Why couldn't Megan be in Collinsport? Instead he had had to go to Barnabas... He could deal with Megan. You paid her and she delivered. Barnabas asked you nothing. He just embroiled you with his family and friends, and then worked on your guilt feelings.

He would have made a great Jewish mother.

There was no senses in picking up a book again. He was in no mood for reading... But what else could he do? If at least he had someone to talk to...Someone who understood what he was talking about.

At least Iris wouldn't b e there. He shuddered remembering her. She gave him an icy cold stare and acted as if he was something the cat dragged in. The woman hated his guts... And she was the one who had cooked up that crazy schedule.

That schedule made no sense. It had been quite a while since he had last tried getting it from a person. There were plenty of less messy ways to get hold of blood. But Iris had had her brainstorm, and he had been stuck.

Why she did, he'd rather not guess. If he ever found out, he might decide to take his chances with the hit men.

But not yet. Megan would be back at any moment. And there was one good thing at least in that schedule. One of those people might smoke, and he might be able to bum cigarettes out of him. Or her.

He didn't have long to wait. An attractive brunette stepped in. That would be either Angelique or Sabrina Jennings.

"Good evening, Miss...,er... Mrs..."

"I am Mrs. Jennings'" she smiled at him. You were expecting me?"

"Have you got a cigarette?"

"I don't smoke myself" she opened her purse and took out several packages "But I figured your supplies would be running low. Cold turkey is not the best way to stop smoking."

Urrey didn't listen. He tore open one of the packages and lit one.

"You are an angel of mercy." he said after several drags.

"Thank you. But this is not why I came here."

Urrey bit his lips. "I know. I don't know how you feel about it, but I am terribly embarrassed."

"After all these years?"

"Iris is the first person I've done that since...since I figured out the easy way to get it."

"What would the easy way be?"

"Nowhere does it say if must be human blood, and nowhere that it must be straight from the vein. So I found places that sell it dry. Sometimes for labs. Sometimes as poultry feed. This way has its advantages. I can always carry extra supplies with me, it mixes well with booze, and it leaves me a lot of free time to calculate the odds for the horses."

"I could get hold of some for you."

"Do that, and I'll kiss the ground you walk on."

"You can skip that. But there _is_ something you can do for me."

"What is it?"

"What do you know of Mob activities in Maine?"

"They are nowhere as big as in New Jersey, but there are some."

"I think I may have tracked down a money laundering operation here. If we pool resources, you and I, we may make some money off it."

"What do you want to do? Urrey looked at her warily.

"Get the goods on them, turn them over the IRS, and collect the reward."

"What do you need the money for?"

"I want to buy off Megan. But I cannot do it without your help."

Urrey tried to think. It looked as if he had fallen from the frying pan into the fire.

"You don't realize, Mr. Urrey" Sabrina's voice was deceptively sweet "how bad your situation is. Iris would like nothing better than doing you in. Willie would do anything to protect Barnabas. My husband thinks like Iris. You need a friend, fast. I want to be your friend. But first you must be a friend to me."

"Megan will be back soon." he frantically tried to show this crazy woman a flaw in her reasoning.

"When? And what makes you think that she'll be glad to see you again? Or that she'd be willing to tackle the Mob for your sake? Nobody in town wants to tackle the Mob. I might, if the price is right."

"Is it that important to you to buy Megan off?"

"Very important. I am the only one in town who is glad that you are here. So you better help me get the money."

"Then it's a deal" He wasn't happy about it, but he had learned long ago to recognize when he was beaten. "What do you want me to do?"

"Do you know of somebody who launders money here?"

"Probably you know the names better than me."

"I mean, know them personally? Had a casual friendship with any of them?"

"I knew a couple of guys...One of them did come to Maine. His name is Gary Fenton."

"Yes. I know of him. Now, you are going to call him."

"Call him? Are you crazy?"

"I need bait."

"Does it have to be me?"

"Why are you so afraid of them? They do not know how to kill you."

"Do you think that I want to hang around until they learn how to do it?"

"And you think that they cannot track you here? If I had to do the job myself, I would track you car. I would find plenty of gas stations where they would tell me where you went."

Urrey felt sick. He had been thinking of that himself, and what could be done about his car. He ought to have ditched it, gotten another one and...

"It is a pity that Barnabas did not come to me with the problem instead of Iris. I could have come up with better ideas than that dumb schedule."

"Iris" Urrey muttered "There is something wrong with her."

"Welcome to a small town," Sabrina smiled "everybody is a little soft in the head here. But in her case it is just fear. She grew up watching 'The Untouchables', after all. With Barnabas it is even worse. It was only a couple of years ago that he learned who Eliot Ness was."

"What you are saying is that no one here knows what to do."

"Except me and Chris. So if you want to make it, you have to do what I tell you."

"Even put my head through a noose..."

"We could manage to seem as if you had died."

"I thought about that. I would make a very convincing corpse. But then someone might want to cremate it..."

"What I was thinking was finding a burned body in your car when it goes off the cliff. Angelique can make sure that the body has your fingerprints and dental records. Then she would give you a new face fingerprints, and identity. And Megan will give you the papers for it."

"It seemed a good idea. At least there was nothing better out there."

"What would I have to do?"

"Give me the money you stole."

"Give _you _the money?"

"I want to mark it with radium. So it can be traced when those guys pick it up and add it to the pile."

"How do I know I can trust you with it?"

"Because you have no other choice." Under what lily pad had Megan found him?

Urrey started to think fast. He had to find a way to turn her down - in a way that she would not play a nasty trick on him afterwards... And he thought that it would be very easy for her to take his money, kill him, and let the Mob find the corpse in a burning car where money evidently also burned...

But he had to make it look as if he agreed, in the meantime.

"All right, you got a partner." he forced himself to smile to her.

"Good" she shook his hand.

He remembered that there was one thing that he should be able to do. He hadn't tried it before, but according to Megan, it could be done.

"One thing, partner" he tried to give his voice a slight hesitancy "I told you about me and my needs... I seem to have run out of the dried stuff... Would you mind, for today, only? After all, that's why you came here..."

"Sure, partner." She took off her scarf. "Is that what you want?"

Urrey nodded.

"One more minute." she unbuttoned her blouse.

"What are you doing?"

"This is an Anne Klein blouse. I do not want it ruined with bloodstains." she took it off and faced Urrey. "I am ready now."

Urrey bit into her throat. Luckily he got the vein on the first try. Iris hadn't taken it very kindly when he had missed it two times. He swallowed three of four times, enough to keep him happy until the next night. Then he let her go.

There were thin streaks of blood on her neck. She wiped them off and made sure the bleeding had stopped before she put on her blouse again.

"Are you all right?" Urrey asked.

"Of course, I am all right."

"Good. Now you'll be a good girl and won't ask me any more for my money."

Sabrina looked at him quizzically, then laughed.

"So that's what you planned." she said "Force your will on me? Too bad that I have developed an immunity to this kind of thing over the years. I am not the only one in town, either..." she laughed again. "Poor Mr. Urrey. You are just out of luck."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

'Chris called" Amy turned to David "he says that he wants to mend our relationship. That when we go to Collinsport to come stay at his place. That he has much to tell me."

David growled. "He is a pig, he and Sabrina. I don't care if I never see him again."

"Please David, there is so much that I need to know about us, about our family..."

David grunted, and looked at the card spread that Amy had made.

"And of course, the cards agree with you." he found Amy's interest in the cards somewhat irritating. Mainly because she paid attention to nothing else when she was laying her spread.

'They hint at important changes."

"But no more specific?"

"Maybe I'll get better after I have a talk with Chris. Barnabas said that my gift from the cards comes from being descended from gypsies"

"I do not see what good that gypsy descent did to your brother...

"In any case we need a place to stay. And unlike the Old House, my brother has electricity and central plumbing."

David had to agree that that was a point in favor...

* * *

"It is all right, now." Sabrina told Angelique "Amy just called. They will be glad to stay with me and Chris."

"Good. Tonight is my turn, them. I mean, with Urrey."

"Forget it. Just place an order at this address and pick it up."

'Why do you want to buy this kind of thing?"

"Because of what it is made of. I did not know it until Urrey told me. The important thing is that once you get this, you are off the schedule and your can go to Washington.

"Washington?"

"Yes. Torrance called you again. I think that you should go."

"You think so?" There was little enthusiasm in Angelique's voice"

"Anything wrong with you?"

"Iris."

Sabrina lifted her hands in a theatrical gesture of despair. "Oh, no not again. Are you ever going to get off Barnabas' back?

"She is going to hurt him."

"It is not your problem anymore. If he asks you for help, give it to him. But nobody appointed you mother-in-law to those two."

"You don't understand."

"I understand." Sabrina shook her head "Kid, go to Washington, have a good time, and get in the sack with Torrance. Then come back and start doing some real work instead of worrying about your personal problems." Angelique tried to speak but Sabrina cut her short "you think I didn't notice? I was patient with you because you were going through a bad time, but my patience is wearing thin. If you don't straighten up you might find yourself out of a job. So you go now to Washington and have a good time. That's an order."

* * *

Louella faced Willie.

"Has Barnabas been here again?"

"A couple of days ago" Willie admitted

"And you didn't tell me about it. You went around my back."

"It was just a few minutes" Willie said defensively. "He just dropped in to say hello."

"And you didn't tell me about it."

"You are so busy talking about Quentin all the time that you don't listen to anything else."

"You should listen to what Quentin says. He could teach you a thing or two."

"There you go again "Willie was glad to be able to change conversation "talking about Quentin."

"Oh, Willie" Louella looked as if she wanted to cry. "I don't want to be mean. I don't want to fight you. But each time that...thing come around I am afraid for you."

"By 'that thing' you mean Barnabas."

"I am afraid of what he can do to you.." Louella gave a strangled sob.

"But why would he hurt me? He's my friend."

"He's of the Devil. Quentin says so."

"So it is Quentin again..." Willie began to get irritated. "Did Quentin ever tell you about himself? He was once a werewolf, like Chris. In fact, he's Chris' great-grandfather."

"Whatever he was, he's let Christ into his life, now."

"That wasn't what cured him of lycanthropy. You should ask Barnabas what the real story of Quentin is. I might ask him to do that."

"Him...and me?"

"He won't touch you, don't fear. And even if he did, it wouldn't be the end of the world, either."

"God!" Louella screamed in terror.

* * *

Frank Torrance turned to Megan. "She called and said that she has a week's vacation."

"Good. / The rest is up to you."

"You want me to...to..."

"Take her to bed? Why not? She's a very desirable woman. And you are very attractive yourself." Megan ran her hand over Torrance's chest " you know, you _are _a gorgeous hunk.:

"Keep away." Frank's voice was edged with fear.

"What is it?"

"I still have nightmares about you and me."

"That was just business. This would be fun."

"Fun? How can it be fun?"

"You'll find plenty of people at Collinsport who'd explain how much fun it can be."

"I'd rather pass."

"Well, anyway., it is better if you did not have fresh wounds in your throat. If she saw them, Angelique would know that I was involved in the invitation and she'd be mad at me. That poor kid needs to find out that there are other fish in the sea besides Barnabas."

"And I am handy for the purpose?"

"We are all handy for some purpose or other. And I will be grateful."

"What good is that going to do to me?"

"If you are ever in trouble, I'll help you free of charge."

"I hope I never need to."

"I hope that, too, for your sake. /But if worse comes to worse, I'll be there."

* * *

Sabrina met Willie in her office.

"What is it, Willie?"

"Can you figure out a way to take me out of Urrey's schedule?"

"Didn't you know? The schedule is off. Urrey got another way to keep himself supplied."

"Thank God!" In his relief, Willie did not stop to think how would Urrey manage. "You se, it wasn't that I was scared. But Louella and I were having problems. She resents Barnabas. If she were to find fresh wounds on me..."

"I get the picture."

"It is Quentin. He's been around her, preaching his nonsense..."

"And you don't believe a word he says..."

"It is just a simplistic way to look at things. Everything in black and white. Real life is a, lot more complicated than that..."

Sabrina wondered whether to tell Willie that Quentin was very likely trying to seduce Louella. But what good would that do? Have Willie beat up Quentin and be jailed for assault? And she did not have any proof..."

"There would be plenty of time to worry about it, once the Urrey business was finished..

"But there is something you can do for him. Keep him supplied with cigarettes. Place bets for him with a bookie, and drop in for some conversation."

"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Must you smoke so much?" Barnabas could hardly hide his disgust at his guest's habits. He was lighting a new cigarette with the butt of the one he had just finished smoking.

"It helps steady my nerves."

"I don't enjoy the smoke."

"It can't hurt you. Why not try one?"

"Can't you stop?"

"No. I am hopelessly hooked. I tried to quit once. Cold turkey" he shivered "You don't want to see me in the middle of a cold turkey."

"But why did you get yourself hooked? Didn't you have enough problems with the blood?"

"You got it backwards. By the time Megan met me I was already hooked. I had all my bad habits formed by then. I simply didn't stop them afterwards. You should ask Megan if you don't believe me."

"By the way, Megan will be back in a few days, a week at the most."

"I hope it is before Sabrina Jennings blows me up to smithereens."

"Sabrina?"

"She cooked up this wild scheme to use me as bait in some operation of hers. Sounds harebrained. But it is the best offer I have."

"I said I would help you."

"You have no idea what you are up against."

"I would like to try.":

"Megan's the only one who can help me. And she may not want to."

"She should. She has a responsibility towards you,."

Urrey grimaced. "She doesn't see it that way. She thinks she did her duty when she warned me to keep out of the Mob's way. And she might also remember that when I left her, I took some of her money with me."

"You stole from her?" Barnabas was shocked.

"There is no honor among thieves, after all. And some of that money was mine, anyhow."

Barnabas stared at Urrey with a mixture of amazement and disgust. "You stole from her, then you stole from the Mob, and you expect her to save you now?"

"I would pay her for it."

Before he could check himself, Barnabas said the same words that Megan shot at him when she was irritated with him "How come no one stuffed you for Thanksgiving, yet?"

"Ran too fast for them. But what do I do about Sabrina?"

"I don't know I don't know what to make of you, or what's to be done with someone like you."

Iris barged in before Urrey could answer.

"Philip Todd.." she said, trying to catch her breath.

"Philip is dead."

"He isn't, not yet anyway. He's in the hospital. He's been shot."

"Shot?"

"Seems that whoever was looking for handsome here thought that Philip was him. They are operating on him now. They said his chances are fifty-fifty."

Before he could think about it, Barnabas turned to Urrey. "You'll just have to go along with Sabrina. Megan won't help you now. She really loved Philip. Loves his still. And unless you make those people understand that they got the wrong man, I won't help you either."

"But...but Philip Todd has been dead all those years..." Urrey stammered.

"Evidently he wasn't" Barnabas turned to Iris. "Are you sure it is him?"

"His fingerprints check."

"His fingerprints? Of course, they took his fingerprints when they arrested him for Paul Stoddard's murder."

"Which is lucky for him now. As long as he is under arrest he will be under guard, and that means he's protected."

Urrey felt chills as he listened to them. Of all the times that Philip Todd could have chosen to come back, why did it have to be now?

* * *

Quentin stared at Louella Loomis coming up the road. Such a sweet girl, Louella. Too bad that she was married to Willie.

There were problems between them. Willie spent more time with Barnabas than with his wife. Somehow eh did not seem to be sure to whom he was married.

He shouldn't think the worst without proof. But still...

In any case, Louella needed help and support, and he would give it to her.

Louella came in.

"Hello, my deal" she greeted her. "how are you doing today?"

"I had another fight with Willie" she sobbed "and another the night before. I cannot keep him away from... from that thing. And now he's saying things about you."

"Calm yourself" he patted her back "maybe you misunderstood him."

"I cannot repeat the things he said about you. That you had been...no, it cannot be true."

"What happened?"

"You know that I love him. I have tried to make my marriage work. But he keeps hanging around...around _him. _He asked me to receive him in my home. And when I wouldn't, he brought him in behind my back... And when I complained he told me that you were not better than...that...

"In a way he is right. I've been in the same pit as Barnabas is. But I came out of it... Thank Jesus I came out of it."

"He's of the Devil, isn't he?"

"I know what it is like there... I know what I was delivered from..."

Terror gripped Louella. Barnabas was of the Devil. And Willie didn't know the danger he was in... And Willie had said to her the other day...

"I want to leave Willie..."

"He's your husband." Quentin reminded her.

"You don't know what he said!" Louella began to cry "I am afraid of him. Willie wants him to...to.."

"Calm down, Louella, I can't understand you." Quentin took Louella's hands.

"He said it would be better if..." she recovered herself enough to spit the next words. "If Barnabas attacked me."

"Maybe you misunderstood."

But maybe she didn't. There was something fishy going on anyway between Barnabas and Willie. He'd have to look more into it.

"Louella, I cannot tell you un good conscience to leave Willie now... But I will look into it. If what you say is true, you won't spend another night under his roof.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Willie and Elmer Urrey were shooting crap on the floor. Willie was on a winning streak, but Elmer did not seem to care. Willie just pocketed the earnings.

Elmer got up and looked out the window.

"Get out of there!" Willie shouted. "Somebody might see you."

"It doesn't matter. They already know that I am in the area. I am now the bait in Sabrina's trap... And I am not sure is the trap will spring before I am swallowed..."

"You going along with her?"

"What other choice do I have? No one else wants to help. I can't expect Megan's help, not after Phillip was shot because of me.."

"What about Barnabas?"

"I don't think he wants to. Not since Philip showed up.. And even if he wanted, how much is the help of someone who a couple of years ago didn't even know who Eliot Ness was?"

Willie looked at Elmer, noticing something wrong for the first time..

"You are smoking two cigarettes at the time!"

"What?"

"You keep one in your mouth and one in your hand, and keep switching them."

"Does it matter?" Elmer shrugged "Either I'll make it or I won't. Most likely I won't. And to top it, I am spending my last days with a bunch of cuckoo birds... If I knew it was going to end this way..

"You'd have kept your paws off the money, eh?" Willie did not like being called a cuckoo bird."

"Maybe. God, to end like this...like a rat in a trap. Having to choose between hit men, and good, upright citizens who would kill me if they thought that they could get away with it... I mean, you would kill me, wouldn't you? Life would be a lot easier if I was not around."

"We don't have as easy a life as you'd like to think. I could tell you stories."

"Megan has already told them. And you still have it easy. Look at Barnabas, for instance. Out there, how long do you think it would take him to come down with a fifty dollars a day habit? That's another reason why I kept to the dried stuff. But he, he probably make the acquaintance of every drug known to law enforcement, plus several new ones. And risking muggers each time he went out... trying to get hold of some money. Owing money to loan sharks. The things I know..."

"You did not know enough to keep your hands off the Mob's money." Willie reminded him.

"I thought I could pull it off."

"You thought" Willie was losing his patience. Had he been like this, once? "Well, think this. Nobody asked you to come here. Nobody asked you to take that money. There is no reason why we should help you. We have enough problems of our own. They are not as fancy as yours, but we have them. And now Phillip Todd is in the hospital with bullets meant for you."

"I'm sorry"

"You are not."

"You are right" Elmer sighed " All I can be is scared."

* * *

Barnabas watched Phillip Todd as he lay unconscious in his hospital bed He looked older, and not only from years. He ran his hand over Phillip's forehead. Sorrow and pain had etched that face...

"I wonder what you have gone through since you fell off that cliff" he said softly "I wonder what you remember of us. What do you remember of Megan? Do you hate me for it? Will you and I ever be able to make our peace? Could you still love Megan? She loves you. In spite of everything she loves you."

"He won't come out of it yet." a voice said behind him. "The doctor told me so. Want to talk about a problem I have?"

Barnabas turned towards George Brant, the sheriff.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Sleeping Beauty here."

Barnabas followed George into the hallway.

"How do I quash his confession? I know that he didn't kill Paul Stoddard. But how do I go about proving it?"

"I wouldn't be in much of a hurry to release him. There seems to be people around who want him dead.".

"You know something about it?"

"No, but it seems that since he was shot."

"You know something, but don't want to tell me. I hope you realize how dangerous it can be. But I know that when Megan comes back she'll drag the information out of you."

"There is nothing I know really..."

"Keep it up, you are doing fine. Just remember that you are a civil servant now, and your actions reflect on the Federal Government and on Maggie. You don't want a scandal..."

"Why not talk with Sabrina?"

"Is she in this too?"

"I mean, she has more experience in this things. She has some experience about the Mob..."

"Is the Mob involved in this?" George screamed.

"Not that I know of. I said it as an example..."

"Pray that it is so. I'd hate to see you wearing cement overshoes. I hope, for your sake, that you stop giving me the runaround before it's too late."

"Talk with Sabrina. She can tell you more than I can."

"If you want it that way." George shrugged He wasn't going to get information out of Barnabas today. Tomorrow he may tell more. "What about Paul Stoddard's murder?"

"You want to know who really did it?

"Jeb Hawkes, Carolyn's late husband. He had the opportunity and the motive. Paul didn't want him around his daughter, so he removed him. As for means, I looked at the lab's findings. There was a strange chemical found in Paul Stoddard's wounds. One of those long technical names that you need an expert to say them right. They found the same substance in the Todd's house before it burned down," George looked hard at Barnabas "Somebody ought to have told you the value of not destroying evidence. Anyway, that chemical was only fond in Jeb Hawkes' room. By a fluke, they had taken fingerprints of that room - to be thorough, in case it turned out to be the scene of the crime. There are Paul's fingerprints there, which could be expected if he was meeting the man who insisted in dating his daughter. There were some of Phillip's and Megan's. It was their house. There were some of yours. But none of Jeb Hawkes. Jeb Hawkes did not have fingerprints... What kind of creature was he?"

"When did I give you my fingerprints?"

"Every time you touched anything within my reach. Anyway, if it wasn't for Phillip's confession, I could pin the crime on Jeb Hawkes."

"Jeb threatened to kill Megan if he didn't confess."

'Nice guy. He was the one who...gave it to you the second time."

"Yes."

"And you still let him marry Carolyn."

"In the end he turned against his people and helped us."

"What kind of creature was he? I know that he wasn't human. I had only to look at the M.E. reports on both autopsies. Paul Stoddard, and Sheriff Donovan. The way they were clawed, no human being could have done it. And the chemical in their wounds rules out somebody like Chris. So you see, I have all the evidence I need to convince myself. But to convince a jury... You cannot take Paul Stoddard's ghost into the courtroom. We have to go with what is acceptable to the DA. And Phillip's phony confession is acceptable to the DA.

"There is a witness who can help us break that confession."

"Who? Nicholas Blair. He was there and knows what happened. He might testify in exchange for immunity, both for that affair and for the land scam in Florida. I'll have Willie withdraw the charges against him." Barnabas sighed "And with luck, that will be the end of the story."

"I am not so sure. I have a feeling that anyone who can do what Jeb Hawkes did to Paul Stoddard won't die as easily as that. And, anyway, that does not solve the riddle of those slugs the doctors took out of Phillip's body."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Sabrina worked on the time chart. Good timing was essential in catching this fish. Of course, it would help if Chris was working on it, instead of having yet another fight with David.

And what was worse, the noise they were making didn't allow her to concentrate as she wanted.

The same argument. Chris called David a bum and a junkie. David called Chris a pig and a fascist. She had heard about twenty variations of the theme. The one she rarely heard from was Amy. Maybe that said something about a woman's place in a commune.

Somebody had to talk with Amy. She had agreed with Angelique on that. And since Chris wasn't going to do it, the job fell on her.

She could work on the time chart later, when the screaming had stopped.

"Have you got a moment?" she asked Amy.

"What is it?" Amy seemed uninterested.

"Come to my room"

Amy followed her, shuffling. What was the point? Chris did not really want to see her.. He had never wanted to see her...

"I wish those two would make less noise" Sabrina tried to put Amy at ease.

"It is all Chris' fault: Why had Chris invited them anyway, if he wasn't going to speak to her?

David's at fault, too" Sabrina could not help being preachy. "and so are you."

"You are as uptight as Chris"

"Why do you insist on using drugs? Don't you know it is illegal?"

"But smoking and drinking aren't. And then you go and put on perfumes, as if there was something wring with the way a human body smells..."

"I see" Sabrina sighed, trying to control her temper "Do you realize that you can go to jail for it?"

"That's what you are scared of? That you might be arrested too? That you'll lose your position in society?"

Sabrina counted inwardly to ten. She couldn't allow her talk with Amy to degenerate into the seam fight that Chris and David were having downstairs.

"I'm sorry. That was not what I wanted to talk to you about. There is something more important than that."

"What could that be?" Amy's voice expressed her disbelief.

"Did Barnabas tell you about your family history?"

"He said that I was descended from gypsies. That's why I can read the cards."

"There are more than gypsies in the family tree. Chris is a werewolf."

"A what?"

"A werewolf. Don't act so surprised. You know very well that Barnabas is a vampire."

"But Barnabas...he's Barnabas." she laughed "Chris could not be a long haired freak.."

"It wasn't so funny a few years ago when he couldn't control it. When he couldn't deal with the wolf inside him. That's when he turned into a hybrid of wolf was man, which was too panicked to do anything right. Well, that's over now. He knows how to handle the wolf."

"Wow! That's some story."

"It is more than some story. You are Chris's sister."

"He'd like to forget that."

"Did you ever have blackouts?" Sabrina's voice grew soft and concerned. "Did you ever wake up to find your sheets torn?"

"Why would you want to know?"

"We think that what happened to Chris can happen to you. If it does, we want you to know that you can come here for help."

"Thanks for the concern. But I don't need it. I am practicing meditation, and that should help."

"I am afraid that meditation wouldn't be enough."

"Don't worry about me."

"Ask Barnabas if you don't believe me. You trust him, don't you?" Sabrina took Amy's hand impulsively "Listen to me, Amy, please. I know that we don't agree on many things. You don't approve the way I live, and I don't approve the way you live. But that doesn't matter now. You are in danger. You have no idea what Chris and I went through. I want to spare you that. Do not be to proud to ask for help. It does not have to be Chris or me. Barnabas is there. And Megan and Angelique. Any of them can help you."

"I told you not to worry about me" Amy pulled her hand free of Sabrina's

* * *

Willie found Quentin waiting for him at home, instead of Louella.

"What are you doing here? And where is Louella?

"She isn't coming back. I've come to tell you that."

"She isn't? What are you talking about?" Willie went livid "What are you doing with my wife behind my back?"

"What were you doing with Barnabas behind your wife's back?"

"What you mean?" Willie tried to keep himself from hitting Quentin.

"I know what Louella told me. I didn't want to believe her... Isn't it true that you wanted Barnabas to attack her?"

"No! Only that if it happened it would not be the end of the world..."

Quentin crossed himself.

"Barnabas is my friend. You make a big fuss because he's a vampire, when you aren't any better."

"I've found Jesus" Quentin crossed himself again "And it has led me to understand many things."

"Like what?"

"The reason why you married Louella."

"What...what reason?"

"You married her because you needed a cover."

"A cover?"

"So that no one would think that you and Barnabas are lovers."

That was too much for Willie. He hit Quentin.

"I forgive you, Willie"

Willie hit him again.

"You fink! You liar! You mealy mouthed hypocrite! You have been filling Louella's head with your lies" Willie kept hitting "Where is Louella?"

"What are you doing?" Megan's hand came up quickly and grabbed his arm, She pulled him away from Quentin.

"I am trying to teach this scum..."

"For God's sake, Willie, he's not worth going to jail for. Think man. You already got a record."

Willie let Quentin go, grumbling.

"Willie, I think that you are a dangerous man." Quentin said. "I won't charge you with assault. But I cannot allow you near Louella."

Quentin left.

"Who asked you to come here?" Willie asked, grumbling.

"The noise you were making sounded like you were about to kill someone. I had to stop it...I just leave for a few days, and when I come back you are trying to beat Quentin to a pulp."

"He's been asking for it."

"I don't doubt it. But what did he do, this time?"

"He told Louella lies. And then took her away..." Anger made it difficult for Willie to talk.

"Maybe I can help you. I've been itching to give Quentin his just desserts for a long time. There is just one thing. I just saw you beating Quentin. Have you ever hit Louella?"

"No! Never!"

"Good, if I find out that you have I'm going to get mad at you, and you know what happens when I get mad.."

"I hope never to give you reason to..."

"Good. Now, tell me, what happened while I was away?"

"You don't know then?"

"Know what?"

"Phillip is back. He's alive and at the hospital."

"Phillip? My Phillip? He is here?"

She grabbed Willie's arm as she was going to wrench it apart.

"In the hospital."

'Is he sick? What happened to him?"

Sooner or later Megan would find out, Willie thought, and she would not take kindly to anyone who hid the truth from her.

"Someone shot him." he tried to ignore the pain in his arm where she squeezed it." Someone mistook him for Elmer Urrey."

"Elmer Urrey"

"He's here. He came to Barnabas for help. He's in some kind of trouble with the Mob Nobody expected Phillip to come back."

"Phillip came back...""


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Frank and Angelique were having breakfast in bed. While drinking her coffee Angelique ran her hand over Frank's chest.

"You must think me shameless" she said, smiling "I've met you only a couple of times before, and here I am."

"I prefer to think of myself as irresistible." Frank smiled back.

"How come you never married?"

"It would leave too many women brokenhearted. Life is very hard for us, irresistible men."

The phone rang. Frank pulled it off the hook."

"Wrong number" he said to the receiver "call back tomorrow".

"Angelique!" Sabrina's scream carried over to the other side of the room. " I know you are there! If you don't answer you are fired!"

"Angelique took the receiver over Frank's protests.

"What's wrong?"

"Your vacation is cancelled. We have an emergency!"

"What happened?"

"A lot. Phillip Todd came back and he was shot. Megan came back last night and found out. Luckily it is daytime, and after dusk she may want to go to the hospital first, which gives us some time advantage. But not too long. Move quickly. Use the teleportation spell, even if it drains you. We cannot wait for you to drive back."

"And my vacation?"

"You'll get a month vacation when this is over. Get over here, fast."

"Fine, I'll be there."

Angelique hung the pone and turned to Frank.

"I have to get back there. In a hurry."

"Why?"

"Sabrina's caught herself into a trap."

"What is it? You can tell me while you get dressed."

Angelique hesitated. Could she trust Frank with that knowledge? Then she remembered that it was not the only secret he held.

"You would not want to hurt Barnabas, would you?"

"Of course not."

She told him the whole story.

"Are you telling me that you people are getting cute with the Mob? You are crazy, the bunch of you."

"I think we can pull this off. Sabrina has some experience doing this kind of thing..." Angelique did not sound convinced.

"You don't believe that."

"She wants the money to buy Megan off. She wants that so badly that I think that she gets careless."

"Look, I have this friend at the FBI who owes me a few favors..."

"No! No FBI."

"You could all get killed."

"I don't want the FBI involved. Do you realize what they could do to Barnabas?"

"Yes, that'd be a problem" Frank conceded "but I can't stay here, doing nothing, while back there.."

"I can take care of myself, you forget that."

"Maybe."

"Look, I'll call you on the phone every day until this is over. As long as I say things are going all right, you don't call your friend."

"If you say so."

"And if you call behind my back."

"Don't worry, I won't"

* * *

Megan came into the hospital. Barnabas was already waiting for her there.

"I know how you feel" he said to her.

"This is your fault. You are the one who took that turkey in."

"It wasn't on purpose. Anyway, Phillip is going to make it. The nurse told me so. And Urrey made sure those guys knew they shot the wrong man.

"You just tell that turkey to keep away from me."

"There is something else. I think we can get Nicholas to clear Phillip of the murder charge"

"What murder charge?"

"Paul Stoddard. Remember that?"

"Paul Stoddard. As if we didn't have enough trouble already. Oh God" she sat down "when is this going to end?"

"We'll pull through."

"Why did you have to take Urrey in?"

"He needed help. And how could I have known that Phillip was going to come back just now?"

"That's about the tenth time I hear that excuse" grumbled Megan.

"Shouldn't we go see Phillip now?

"Yes, let's go."

Phillip was sitting, propped by pillows, and watching TV.

"Phillip" Megan moved towards him.

Phillip recoiled, a look of terror in his face.

"Phillip, it's me. Don't you recognize me?" Megan moved closer to the bed.

"Don't touch me! Phillip screamed.

"Phillip?"

Barnabas grabbed Megan's arm and pulled her away.

"Let me go! That's my husband!"

'He's scared, Megan. Give him time."

"Scared, what you mean, scared? He's Phillip, he loves me."

"Don't touch me, either of you." Phillip was almost begging now.

"He's scared, he doesn't understand..."

"He doesn't understand" Finally Megan understood what Barnabas was trying to tell her. "This is your fault, all your fault." she turned on him venomously.

"Yes" Barnabas admitted "you are right about that."

"Phil? Baby?" Megan kept trying to reach Phillip.

"Let's go Megan, please let's go."

Barnabas finally managed to get Megan out of Phillips' room.

A nurse came and stared at them.

"What are you two doing with my patient?" Her tone was pleasant, but there was something in her voice that boded ill to anyone who disturbed her patients.

"That's her husband in there" Barnabas explained.

"What everyone's sweetheart is married?"

"It is a long story."

"I do not care if it long or short. The poor guy has enough troubles without that kind of family problems."

"Please, could you put in a word for me with him? Try to get him to talk to me?" Megan begged the nurse.

"I do not see why I should. I don't want my patient disturbed."

"Come Megan, let's go" Barnabas could not let Megan go to pieces there.

He had to practically drag her out of the hospital.

"I am sorry, I know what you are going through, but staying here won't help."

"That bitch."

"Who?"

"The nurse."

"She's rather a nice woman when she's not protecting her patients from unwanted visitors."

"You know her?"

"I was at her throat last night."

"Could you put in a good word for me with her?"

"I could try. But I don't expect results. She's too much like Julia was."

"Julia?"

"Yes." Barnabas was glad to have something else to talk about with Megan. "She would put up with a lot from me, as long as it was personal stuff. But when I got to fight her on medical matters..."

"When you got Joe Haskell out of Wyndcliffe, you mean."

"He wasn't getting treatment and they could not prove that he was dangerous."

"I know" Megan had gotten her sparkle back "But Julia didn't buy the idea. She's still of the generation where the doctor always knew best."

The words were calm, but Barnabas could feel the anger behind them.

"You hate Julia, don't you?"

"Yes. and you don't, even if she never answers your letters."

"I was more at fault than she was."

"More at fault! She got angry because you mentioned malpractice.

"I could have been more diplomatic about it."

"You were one of her malpractice cases, even if she will never admit it."

"If she didn't cure me, it wasn't because she didn't try."

"She tried to hard. I found out what was in those shots she gave you. There were some kind of super opiates, highly addictive substances, as a side effect you got hooked. If you had been cured, you would have been very sick with cold turkey, but recovered after a few hellish days. But you didn't get cured, and when she changed her formula, you had to deal with both the thirsts and the cold turkey at once. A nasty combination. And I was the one who paid for it." she closed her fists. "and because of that, Phillip cannot look at me without screaming."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

David and Amy were smoking a joint when Chris came in.

"Put that out, you too! You want to get arrested?"

"You'll turn us in?" David mocked him "You are such a good citizen that you would turn in your own sister."

Chris slapped him. "When you are living under my roof you'll not smoke the stuff. And watch how you speak of my sister."

"You invited us here, didn't you?"

"It was a mistake. I thought you might have changed. I was wrong."

"You didn't change, either. You are still the same hypocrite who makes a living looking through keyholes, and selling what you know to the FBI and the CIA so that they can run a better police state."

"Chris, what's holding you?" Sabrina's voice came from the other room.

""They are smoking pot in here."

"We have no time now. Come here a moment."

Chris left the drink he was holding on the table and went to meet Sabrina.

"Do you think that he will come back for the drink?" David wondered aloud. "Let's see what happens."

He dropped a pill on Chris's drink.

"David!" Amy protested.

'He's been asking for it. And don't go around telling him what I did."

Chris came back and swallowed the rest of his drink. Amy tried to speak, but David dug cruelly his fingers in her arm.

* * *

Sabrina and Elmer went over the timetable. "We let them have part of the money how, to keep them interested. This way they'll be sure to come back to see you car burning. "she explained to him.

"Must we junk it? It is a good one."

'You must if you want to save your neck. Then we will get you a new face."

"You'll make sure that the body found inside will be identified as me?"

"Of course."

"Where do you get the body?"

"We could claim and unclaimed corpse in the coroner's office, but in this case it is best if Angelique made one out of whole cloth. It wouldn't be the first time she did."

"I'd like to hear about that."

"Later. Now we have to go meet your friends."

"Do we really have to?"

"It is going to be all right. I'm coming with you, and I have a gun. Chris will also be covering us."

"Do you think that's enough?"

"Sure. I got to fix myself before we go."

Sabrina adjusted he peroxide wig and opened further the collar of her dress.

"Do I look slutty enough to be a girlfriend of yours?"

"Yes."

"It's a bitch having to do your makeup in the car... but there is no helping it. We have to hurry."

"Should we leave a note for Barnabas?"

"I don't see the point."

"Is Chris really there?"

"He's trotting along."

* * *

Chris tried to keep a steady pace. It wouldn't do to get overtired. He still had plenty of time to reach the meeting point.

He shouldn't have had that last drink, he thought. Generally it was a bad idea to drink before turning into a wolf. But David had upset him so...

Well, he'd have to control the dizziness. After all, it wasn't the first time it had happened to him, and he had handled himself well.

He felt tired. He should take a short rest. There was a pond nearby; the sight of water made him feel thirsty.

He drank. And as he did, he felt an oppression over his chest.

He ran a few feet, and he had to stop. There was a bell ringing in his ears, and his lungs felt like stabbed with needles.

He lied down to make the pain subside.

"Cannot lie down here" he thought. "have to make it to the rendezvous point."

He got up. A flash of color exploded behind his eyes. and the needles became knives, until the pain forced him to take human shape again.

Flies buzzed in front of him, and they shot lights at his eyes. The bells kept assaulting his ears mercilessly. He was in the middle of a swarm of maddened wasps...

He was in human form, when the ground broke opens. The gap turned into a mouth, ready to swallow him. He backed away from it. A tree branch hit him on the cheek, and then it curved to form a noose around his neck.

He changed into a wolf again... the lights blinded him.

To human form... the noose would not let him breathe...

To wolf...to human...he changed again and again...He couldn't escape the light and the pain. He changed back and forth unable to stop. Screams of pain escaped him. He lashed at the killer trees, and the wasps, and the lights...he tried to grasp anything that he could tear up...

* * *

"This is the spot" Sabrina said to Elmer.

"If you say so." Elmer parked the car, and sat back, waiting.

"Stop acting as if you were going to your execution."

"Why not? This may well be it." Elmer took a last drag out of his cigarette. "I got right to a cigarette and a blindfold."

"Nobody is going to kill you. My plan is going to work."

"Damn!" Elmer shook the empty package of cigarettes in his hand.

"What is it?"

"I just smoked my last cigarette. Do you have any on you?"

"Didn't Willie keep you supplied?"

"I left them behind at Barnabas'"

'Logical."

"Don't you have any?"

"Why should I? I don't smoke."

"Look in your purse. Maybe you'd find one there."

"There is nothing in my purse."

"Please look."

Sabrina rummaged through her purse. 'Nothing here" she said.

"How about the glove compartment?" he opened it and ran his hand inside kit.

"There are no cigarettes in this car."

"What about the floor" Elmer managed to slide down, and kept looking.

"What are you doing?"

"Maybe one of them rolled off.".."

"You'd put one in your mouth after it's been down there?"

"I need one."

"Here, have some chewing gum"

Elmer shook his head... I could fly back to a shop and buy some...

Sabrina laughed. "You are not overly subtle. You want to run away. Come, have some chewing gum. It'll help."

Elmer swallowed the chewing gum.

"You are not supposed to swallow it. Just keep it in your mouth, keep your tongue busy...

Elmer sank down on his seat, the picture of despair.

"You know what you have to do?"

'Yes, We meet them. I act trusting towards them..."

"Then I go hysterical and cause some confusion before you can say where the money is."

"They might pull guns."

"Then make sure they point away from me. Chris falls on them. We make sure their tires are shot. We run away in your car. Chris puts on your coat and slips in the driver's seat and you follow them through the air. If you think it is close to dawn. Call me and I'll have Angelique take over.

"You make it sound so easy."

"Stop acting up. You'll live through it. You won't be any less alive tomorrow than you are today."

"Lady." Elmer managed some dignity in his words. "the kind of life I have may not be much. But it is the only one I got. The fact that I have to spend days in a coffin does not mean that I want to spend nights there, too. You act as if it is nothing to put me in the crossfire."

"I am putting myself and my husband in the crossfire, too."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Angelique had barely arrived when Megan fell on her.

"What is Sabrina doing?" she asked without preamble.

"Why, Megan? You seen Phillip?"

"Do not try to sidetrack me. Phillip is doing all right, but I just found out that Sabrina may be in hot water up to her neck. I got that much out of Barnabas. And I think you know the rest."

Angelique blurted out what she knew, wondering again why she obeyed Sabrina so much.

"She told me to come back in a hurry. I think that she was going to try for it tonight."

"Sabrina is going to get herself killed if we don't find them."

"Sabrina and Chris know how to handle themselves."

'Not in this case. Sabrina is trying to buy me off, right?"

"Yes."

"When it comes to getting rid of me, Sabrina has no common sense. And Elmer is terrified of guns. He can panic at any moment. Anything goes wrong and you got at least one corpse. We have to find them."

"How?"

"How? By scrying, you dummy. You know how to scry. Call Barnabas. We may need his help. In the meantime I am going to do some aerial recognizance."

* * *

Barnabas found Angelique scrying over a glass of water.

"What are you doing?"

"Both Sabrina and Chris used this glass " she explained.

"Why?"

"Megan wants to find Sabrina. She thinks that she may get herself killed in this deal of hers."

"Sabrina can take care of herself."

"I am not so sure. Wait! I'm seeing something."

Barnabas peered over her shoulder and saw the figure form.

"Chris! But...but it can't be.

The half-man, half-wolf figure that had for so long darkened Chris's life raged at the bottom of the glass.

"It cannot be him" Angelique said. "he hasn't done that since..."

"It is him." Barnabas said grimly. "I've seen him long enough to recognize him. Where is he?"

"I'...I don't know... I can try guiding you to him."

"Let's go in the car. I'll drive and you navigate."

Barnabas drove silently while Angelique looked at the glass and every now and then told him to turn. Barnabas kept thinking about Sabrina and Elmer. They were counting on Chris. And Chris could not help them...

He could only hope that Megan found them before it was too late.

He shouldn't have let Sabrina handle the affair in the first place. Or at least he should have asked more questions. But he hadn't like Elmer and had welcomed the first excuse to unload him.

Of course, Sabrina was the expert. But he should have remembered how irrational Sabrina became when she wanted to buy Megan off.

And Phillip. Don't forget Phillip. He had been shot because of Elmer. But that had been bad luck. And if he were to tell the truth himself, he had decided to wash his hands off Elmer before Iris came with the news.

He just didn't like Elmer. He smoked too much. He was a petty thief. He was irresponsible. And what really got to him was that the unreliable Elmer, unlike him, hadn't found it difficult at all to handle his curse.

It had taken him a long time to figure out what it meant to be a vampire. He still wasn't sure. And along came Elmer Urrey and stood everything on its head.

And because of that, he had let Sabrina walk into a trap.

"He is around here." Angelique said.

"Where?"

"A few feet away. Park the car."

They continued on foot. They could hear the grunts and howls.

"What could have caused it?"

"Drugs might have done it. Or something like that" Angelique answered

They could see him now. He was trashing about, over the bodies of a flock of sheep.

"Thank God, it is only sheep" Angelique thought... She hoped that the damages bill did not wipe them out...

Barnabas had to hit Chris with the silver handle several times before he could even try to subdue him. Angelique came to his side and applied a strong judo grip on Chris' neck.

"He's calmer now." she said. "le's see if we have anything strong enough to tie him up."

"The best I can do is my tie and belt. I don't' thing they will be enough."

Chris slumped and began to moan piteously.

"Chris?" Barnabas looked at him "Can you understand me?"

Chris nodded.

"Do you know who I am?"

Another nod.

"He seems to be better Maybe we can get him to tell us where Urrey and Sabrina are."

"Take him a couple of feet away. I want so scry again, and he won't let me concentrate."

Barnabas led Chris away, while Angelique looked again at the glass.

"Where did they go? North?"

Chris shook his head.

"South?"

A shake and a nod.

Southwest or Southeast?

Another nod.

"Southwest?

A nod.

"Did they take the highway?"

Angelique stared at the glass, and the figures began to form.

* * *

"How much longer?" Elmer was impatient.

"Until they show up."

"They will kill me, you know. And you set me up." He turned and stared hard at her. "You sold me to them!"

"Calm down, will you? No one sold you. out."

"Where is Chris? I don't see him."

"Of course you don't see him. He's supposed to be hiding."

"Stop talking to me as if I was an idiot. Chris isn't here. He never was! You are selling me out!"

"Shut up!"

"I am getting out of here!" he lunged at the door.

Sabrina slapped him. Before he could react she hit him in the crotch.

* * *

Angelique saw this with mounting horror "Megan was right " she thought.

"Where are they?" she forced herself to think. She stared at the bottom of the glass until she was sure she recognized the area

Now to tell that to Megan.

She closed her eyes and tired to reach her mind, sending her the mental picture. Where was that bat flying..."

"It is OK, Angelique" Megan's voice reached her mind " I am going there now."

Chris was having another seizure when Angelique got back to Barnabas. He was trying to hold Chris, but lacked Angelique's knowledge of judo and Chris scratched him several times.

Angelique applied her grip again and Chris subsided.

"We have to take him to the hospital" she said. "you drive and I'll hold him."

"What about Sabrina and Elmer?"

"Megan's taking care of that. With luck, she'll reach them in time.

Neither of them spoke of what would happen without luck.

They drove in silence. Then suddenly Barnabas spoke.

"This is my fault."

"This is not more your fault that everyone else's"

"I could have tried to stop Sabrina. Instead we waited until Megan came back."

"The return of Phillip made that difficult."

"It wasn't Phillip. It was because he smoked too much. And because he missed his bookie."

"Missed his bookie?"

"We were talking once" Barnabas' face took on a painful expression " I was trying to make sense out of him. Trying to explain to him and me what this curse of ours means.. I talked about Josette... it isn't easy for me to talk about her to strangers... And I talked of how much Megan missed Phillip. So he comes out that he misses his bookie like crazy!"

"That hurt you, didn't it?"

"Yes. And he probably did not mean to. You see, except the curses, he and I have nothing in common. So, because of that I let Sabrina put a noose around his neck. And her own neck, too."


	12. Chapter 12

gChapter 12

Megan found the car where Sabrina and Elmer were struggling. He was trying to strangle her, and she was hitting him on the head with her gun.

Megan pulled them apart.

"Cut it out, you two! You " she said to Elmer "stay here and don't move. And you "she turned to Sabrina "put away that gun before it goes off. the deal is off!"

"What do you mean?"

"Start the car and let's go." Megan said to Elmer who was only too happy to obey. " Chris has been hurt. You cannot pull it now."

"Chris?" Sabrina lowered her gun.

"Yes. I think he is no the way to the hospital. :Put that gun away and let's go."

Sabrina grumbled but put the gun way. What could have happened to Chris?"

Before Elmer could turn over the fork of the road a car appeared in front of them and barred their way. The car stopped and two men came out, guns in hand.

Megan was quick to understand and turned herself into a bat. Let's hope that Sabrina kept her head...

The men approached the sides of the car. "I'd better take the one in Elmer's side. Sabrina can handle the other one."

She dived straight to the face of the gunman facing Elmer. the man screamed and backed away.

That was all that Sabrina needed. The man facing her was distracted, and he was careless because she was only a woman. She shoved the door hard against him, and karate-chopped him in the neck.

She was ready to grab the gun when she noticed that Elmer was wrestling with the other man. And she saw the money in the car.

There was a way that they could still pull it off... She lunged for the gun in a way that made it possible fore her opponent to go for it. She kicked it out of the way, far into the woods, and ran away.

"He has to come after me" She thought. "He cannot chance me finding the gun and using it. I made him mad, and that's good. One of them is enough for Elmer to handle.

She took the gun out of her purse. She hoped she didn't have to use it, but just in case...

Elmer had overpowered the man. He didn't know yet how he had done it, but in any case the man lay unconscious on the ground.

"Your fighting style has improved" said Megan "but not enough"

"You kicked him?"

"Yes. Now I have to find Sabrina before she gets her head blown off."

"I will help you."

"What you do is take away all the gun clips, flashlights and flashlight batteries out of their car. Understood?"

He did so. He also took away the flashlight in his own car. Better safe than sorry.

Megan tackled Sabrina and her pursuer by sound. It wasn't hard to hear the racing footsteps.

She came to where Sabrina, gun in hand, realized that he pursuer was gaining ground and that she might have to shoot. The man had also an extra gun, which he brandished. Megan made the man lose balance by flying into his face. This gave her and Sabrina some breathing space.

"Give me your coat and lie there." Megan told Sabrina.

Sabrina didn't argue. She was beginning to suspect that he plan hadn't been that good. That car blocking her escape... What had Elmer said? That Russian Roulette would have been safer? She had bungled it, and now Megan had to rescue her.

She lied down on the frozen ground, and groaned as the snow caved around her, covering her, and getting under her collar...

She gritted her teeth, determined to endure the cold. Better a bad cold than a bullet...

Megan ran across the ground, flapping her coat. The end of it got snagged on the thickets, and could only be pulled free with a lot of noise. There was no way the man pursuing her would miss her.

The man shot. She felt the bullet burn through the coat. She continued running. She stumbled and got up. The man shot again.

Elmer heard the shots and went into the woods. He should have tied the unconscious man... but too late for it now.

He ran, with his flashlight on. He hoped he could lure the man away from Sabrina.

He wasn't afraid anymore. He felt somewhat happy. - the word is 'high" some part of his mind warned him. - Well, anyway, facing up danger and making it could be a lot of fun. Come to think of it, the bullets could not hurt him...

He found Sabrina's pursuer ahead of him.

"She's over there, pal." the man said to him. "running like a chicken with its head cut off."

"You got the wrong man. Drop the gun."

The man whirled around, fear and surprise in his face. He had two bullets left, and no clips...If his pal did not help him now, he was done for. The light that Urrey shone in his eyes made it impossible to aim for Urrey's body.

The man who had been knocked unconscious sat up. He couldn't see nor hear anything. He tried to get his flashlight, but realized it was gone. So was his gun. He rummaged the glove compartment of his car. They had taken everything away.

His partner was keeping them busy in the woods, it seemed. That gave him some time. He went to Urrey's car. There were no flashlights there, either.

But he found the money.

Too bad about his partner. He could get killed, but that was the breaks. He could do nothing there, anyway. He'd better take the money and go.

They all heard the car go away. Megan took advantage that the man was looking at Elmer, and slipped to Sabrina's side.

"You can have your coat back before you get pneumonia."

"Follow that car." Sabrina said., getting up, her teeth chattering. "I want to know where it goes."

"Take it easy.."

"He's carrying marked money. Follow him!"

"If that makes you happy..." Megan turned into a bat and flew away.

"You'd better give up" Elmer was saying to the gunman. "your friend has forgotten about you. I have guns and extra clips. I have actually your gun. I can kill you easily, and since it is your partner's gun, I will not be a suspect."

The man threw his remaining gun down, hoping that when Elmer picked it up he could jump him.

"Everything under control? " Sabrina came at Elmer's side.

"Pick up his gun." Elmer said. "And you, kneel down and keep your hands over your head."

Sabrina took the gun and stepped back.

"What are we going to do with him? Sabrina had fallen back into his role of Urrey's slutty girlfriend, but Urrey did not notice it.

"Take him with us, I guess."

"Why?" We throw him over the side, and it will be a while they find his body. And as you said, the gun belongs to his partner. It is better than having to give a lot of explanations."

"God! That was Murder One!" Elmer was shocked." "We cannot do that."

"Why not? It would be so easy..." Sabrina pointed the gun at the man's head.

"Don't!" Elmer grabbed her hand as she pulled the trigger. The bullet flew harmlessly over the man's head.

The man did not wait for the next shot. He got up quickly and ran. Weaving into the trees he was lost from view.

"You let him escape!" Sabrina shouted.

"Let's go to the car, before he beats us to it."

"You are right." Sabrina seemed more subdued now.

They got to the car. "Check that no wires have been cut under the hood. Or the brakes tampered with. I'll check the tires."

"How do you check the brakes?"

"Let me do that. You check the tires. You know how to do that?"

"I'm not an idiot."

"As an operative, you are a disaster." Sabrina said, as they s at inside the car again.

"I never applied for the job" Elmer drove. " And I wasn't the one who parked the car where those guys could cut us off. If it wasn't for Megan.. Where is Megan, by the way?"

"Following the one who escaped with the money.:"

"Following the one who escaped... so you did pull it off..."

"Of course, I did."

That she relied on Megan to pull it off, the same Megan she wanted not to know anything of her plans did seem now to be a small detail of no importance...

"Why did you want to kill that guy back there? I know that he was a hit man. But still...

Sabrina shook her head. "I wanted him to run away. I'd rather not take him to the sheriff."

'You didn't want the sheriff to know about it."

"And I did not want the sheriff letting it ship that we have two resident vampires here."

He did not believe it. Law enforcement officials were not in the habit of giving information to criminals. But if Sabrina wanted to lie to him, let her. She had wanted to kill the man.. To get even for the cold and the scare, and for her frustration at having to depend on Megan once more...

He shivered and made a bit more of distance between himself and her.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Elmer poured the sheriff a drink.

"No thanks, I am on duty. In any case, it is not your liquor, it is Barnabas'"

"It is here for the guests. Since I am a guest..."

The sheriff shook his head "Megan was right. You'd steal anything that isn't nailed down."

"Is that why you came, to lecture me about not stealing?"

"No. I wanted to make sure that I was told everything about his mess... When I think that Barnabas kept you hidden here, and if Phillip had not been shot, I'd never been the wiser. One of these days I expect to find that Barnabas has been building an atomic bomb in his cellar, and that he expects me to dismantle it, since he does not know how.."

"Well, ask what you want to know. Start shooting questions."

"What are you going to do? I mean after your car goes off the cliff? You don't have the choice of turning State Evidence and being given a new identity."

"Angelique and Megan can give me one."

"Of course... to think that this mess started as a secret from Megan, and now she's running it... Well, Sabrina should consider herself lucky to be alive and stop complaining... In any case, what are your plans?"

"Get a new car. Move...do what I always did."

"So you'll leave town?"

"You want me to go. Is this the "get the Hell out of Dodge speech?"

"I'd feel better if you were not around."

"You don't mind Barnabas and Megan."

"Neither of them will try to run a mail fraud business from here. I took a look at your record. Petty larceny and fraud. You were in the same jail as Willie Loomis, and he remembers you well. He told me that if I shake your hand to count my fingers afterwards."

"Well, the same could be said of Megan."

"She's reformed now. "

"Are you sure?"

"Quite sure."

"Either that or she has something on you. I wonder what that is?"

* * *

"How's the work going? Megan peered over Angelique's shoulder.

"Getting the body ready takes time."

"Are you doing it from scratch as you did it for Barnabas in 1897?"

"Yes. Safer that way. This leaves no trail, nor coroner's employees flashbacks of missing bodies. It takes more energy, but it is safer in the long run. No danger of discrepancies."

"Well, with luck that will be the last we hear from that turkey. And my only problem will be to spring Phillip from jail."

"I think that Barnabas has the right idea. Get Nicholas to clear Phillip."

"Yes. I do hope that the Feds pay us. We need the money to pay for Chris' hospital stay and for those sheep he killed...only sheep, thanks God!"

"I think that Chris's condition may have been caused by drugs."

"But he does not use."

"David is staying at his place., and the two fought. It would not surprise me any if David slipped him something in his food or drink."

"The only mystery is why you and Sabrina talked Chris into taking David in."

"Iris thought it would be best, so they did not find Elmer Urrey at Barnabas'"

"Since when does Iris White do your thinking? Didn't it occur to you to send Urrey to the Jennings, instead? He would have been little trouble, and Barnabas would have been spared all that tobacco smoke" she shook her head "I wonder if there is anybody in this town with some sense in his or her stupid head."

"It seemed to make sense."

"Sure, since he and Barnabas had so much in common, they would make good roommates. Well, that nearly got Chris and Sabrina killed" Megan laughed. "you should have seen Sabrina and Elmer when I got there. Total chaos. Straight out of the Keystone Kops or the Three Stooges."

"Well, it came all right at the end."

"In a way. How was your trip to Washington?"

"I had a good time."

"You met Torrance?"

"How do you know that?"

"I thought you might look him up. He was interested in you when he was here."

"Well, yes. I met him,."

"You got to bed with him?"

"Megan!"

"I just want to know if you are getting over Barnabas."

"He's not like Barnabas at all. He's... I don't know. He's interesting."

"But he is not Barnabas."

* * *

Barnabas shuffled the papers on his desk. How had they accumulated so fast? This Urrey business had not taken that much of his time... So many papers?

He couldn't get Chris out of his mind. Angelique was convinced that David had drugged him. He wanted to believe it wasn't true, but he couldn't help knowing that everything fit...

It could have been a accident. David couldn't have done that on purpose. Could he?

He had seen David grow up. And to find him doing that kind of thing...

He looked at the pile of papers again. Had to start finding what they were.

A lot of unemployment payments to be speeded up. He took care of them. He sighed. He should be able to do better than that. The people would get their money. But getting jobs...

That was Carolyn's doing. She had obeyed OSHA guidelines. And passed the cost of it to the town. She began laying off people, and their names showed up on his desk.

If he hadn't forced the issue with her...

There should be another industry in town. One that Carolyn could not control. Until that happened, the same story would be played over and over.

He'd have to do something about it, now that the Urrey business was winding down. He could ask Maggie about that. She was the one who could pull strings.

Of course, there was the business with Phillip, too. But Megan was taking care of it herself, and she could do it better than he could.

What was to be done about David?

Iris came into his office. He was so busy looking down on his papers that he didn't see her. She sneaked up on him and kissed him on the cheek.

"How are you doing?"

Trying to get this pile cleared off my desk."

"You never will."

"That's a terrible thing to say?" she smiled at her.

"I mean it. No one has found a way to make those things disappear."

"I will give it a try."

She nodded. "Something bothering you?"

"Unemployment."

"It is serious?"

"Carolyn's reprisals. We need to bring another industry here. Break the monopoly that Carolyn has."

"That would be a good idea."

She came close to him, and put her arm on his shoulder. "You've been too busy these days and I miss you... it is not your fault. We just don't keep the same hours. But we have to make it up sometimes." she nibbled on his ear.

"Here?"

"Why not?"

Why not indeed? He wanted it too. He took Iris and bent her over the desk, kissing her...

Later, when they were getting dressed, Iris came back to the unemployment problem.

"Carolyn is going to get mad as Hell, you know."

"She's already mad. That's why all the layoffs.

"You are high on her enemies' list. You and Maggie. She'll get Maggie through you, and you through Maggie."

"I wish I could explain to her..."

"But you can't. So let's figure out what industry we could set up here.

"Maggie could direct some Federal funds to us... And I imagine that among all government records there are feasibility studies for different industries here."

Sabrina could help you there. She knows how to find records. And she's probably on Carolyn's list. So am I. So is Angelique. And Frank Torrance...She also hates David, and she hates her mother... When she hates she doesn't do it by halves."

"Iris, please. I know what...what she does. But I'd rather not hear talk of her."

"Yes. But remember that she is going to fight you, and that she can be very nasty. She exposed you once, didn't she? What if this time she does it again, but to the FBI?"

"She couldn't..." but he knew that Carolyn very likely would.

"The best thing I can think of is to have Torrance give a signed deposition as to what happened between him and Megan. If there is talk of vampires, she'd better be shown employing one to evade the law."

Yes, that would work.

"Do you think that Frank will do that?"

"Considering that Carolyn might want to come after him, he'd be very glad to."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Are you ready?" Angelique asked Elmer.

'Yes. Do I have to dump the car, really?"

"This is the tenth time you asked me that."

"It is a good car."

"Gas prices are going up. Now get in and drive away."

Elmer tried to stall a bit more. "Are you really giving me a new face? A new identity?

"If I don't kill you first for being such an ass I will."

The two men that had come after Elmer that other time watched the road.

"Why would the broad turn him in to us?" One of them asked. "She was the one who wanted to kill me."

"She may have found the rest of the money, and wants to keep it. It was the same broad, right?"

"She tried to disguise her voice, but it was her."

"Well, let's get Urrey now, and her later."

Urrey drove to the designated spot. They would recognize the car easily.

He expected them to pull their guns and shoot at him, but they didn't. Either they thought there may be witnesses, or they did not want bullets that could be found in a autopsy. It had to look like an accident, so they would use their car to force him off the road.

He was a fairly competent driver, and his affection for his car made him unwilling to give it up without a struggle.

He evaded a maneuver to corner him and got ahead of them. They closed on him again, and again he escaped. He pressed the accelerator. He was leaving them behind... If he went a little faster and took advantage of the curves he could ditch them...

Except that he was supposed to die here. He looked at the body on the floor of the car, the one that Angelique had prepared for him... It had to be now.

He sighed and too his feet off the accelerator. Let them think that his nerve had broken at the last moment. The nose of the car following him grew large in the rearview mirror.

Then the bump on the side. He hit the brakes. Not strongly enough. Another bump. And suddenly he was in the air.

Reluctantly he turned into a bat and abandoned the car to its fate. From the air he saw it fall, crash, and catch fire...

"What a pity. It was such a good car..."

* * *

"We officially identified the body as that of Elmer Urrey - Sheriff Brant told Megan "we listed it as an accident. It will be in the newspaper tomorrow, and those men will be gone. Too bad, I would have liked to arrest them."

"You could not have made any charge that stuck." Megan looked uneasily at him. He was a good friend and a valuable ally. But there were kinks in his character that could make him unpredictable. Let's hope they did not act up now that she needed to clear Phillip.

"They were hit men. I did not want them to go free... If I kept the Urrey case open.."

"Better it be closed. What about Sabrina?"

"The story is that a transient woman disappeared from a motel room. There were signs of violence in her room, and suspicions that she may have met foul play at the hands of her boyfriend... Sabrina laid the groundwork for that herself...It figures. she sells Urrey down the river. Urrey finds out and kills her.."

"Good. let it stay that way. Two dead people who are not telling any tales. Never mind that neither of them is dead."

"Still, if I arrested those men..."

"You can't And it is dangerous. Those people tend to get smart lawyers, and those lawyers do tend to dig out stuff. You do not want to have them digging up stuff in this town."

"It would be a disaster, I know."

"It is just that I have this fantasy of one day solving a big case and making a nice wrapped package to give to the Feds. They always look down their nose at me because I am just a backwoods sheriff.

"You'll show them up another time. If I see something that shows promise I will point it your way."

"Thanks" George became serious again "There is something that I want to check for me."

"What is it?"

"Find out if David is a pusher."

"You think he is?"

"I know he smokes pot. I never go to Barnabas' when they are in town so I don't have to arrest them. But I wonder if he's involved with something more serious than that."

"You think that he drugged Chris."

"If he did, it was not pot, and where did he get it? Then I checked my records. There were several drug outbreaks in the high school , and they coincide with his visits.'

"If you are right...":

"It will break Barnabas' heart, I know.. Why do you think I asked you to check it out first? I want to have proof before I move. If I have to hurt him, I want to be sure.

'I will try to help him. but you know that I will be concentrating on Phillip"

"I am behind you on that."

"Good."

George looked at her. "Do you have any plans for later?"

"None."

"Well, you can stop by my place later?" he rubbed his neck. "Or are too busy?"

She smiled "I am never too busy for a fried like you, George. I'll be there."

* * *

What will happen with Phillip Tood? Will he be cleared? And where has he been all this time? What happens when David Collins drug use comes known? What will Elmer Urrey do with his new identity? What about Sabrina's plan to buy Megan off?

These questions will be answered in subsequent installment of the Chronicles.


End file.
